This is a powerful and disturbing film. Its fantasy-for-the-sake-of-idea storyline sends a man back in time to the days of Samuel Johnson, Boswell, and the England of the bygone era. The time traveling scientist is played most ably by Tyrone Power. He falls in love back in time, runs afoul of those who wonder how he can know the future, and is compelled to return to his own era. This film was adapted from John Balderston's eerie play "Berkeley Square" by Ranald Macdougall. The director of this beautiful; B/W dramatic gem was Roy Baker. In the cast along with Power were Ann Blyth, Michael Rennie, Kathleen Byron, Beatrice Capmbell, Irene Browne, Raymond Huntley, Felix Aylmer, Ronald Adam, Robert Atkins, Alex McCrindle, Ronald Simpson and many more. Whenever the time traveler makes an error in tenses, the 18th Century denizens grow afraid of him, wondering if he is a witch or a madman. But he is able to see and converse with Sir Joshua Reynolds, Samuel Johnson, Boswell and others; and the time traveler returns home to an even stranger ending than he had imagined--or that the viewers could have guessed. The film boasts very fine music by William Alwyn, wonderful costumes by Margaret Furse and art direction by C.P. Norman that is a delight to behold. This is a powerful production, unforgettable, and a bit unusual until one gets used to it. The B/W sets look densely photographed and very convincing; for some reason, the feature hard-to-find in this country but not to be missed if you get the opportunity. Also known as "The House On the Square".
48 Reviews
Nice try, but I wasn't quite convinced.
planktonrules14 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Apparently the other reviewers really liked this movie and I am happy they liked it. As for me, perhaps I am too picky, but the movie seemed like a good idea that was indifferently executed. It's a shame, too, as I love Tyrone Power films and there was a lot to like about the film--but also a lot that frustrated me as well.
The film begins with Power playing a scientist from MIT. While he should have been quite happy about his life, he is rather distant from everyone. When a co-worker (Michael Rennie) talks to him about this, Power confides that he is happy alone AND he plans on leaving--for another time!!! How, he doesn't know, but through reading a diary and looking at an 18th century painting that looks exactly like him, Tyrone is sure he's about to take this amazing journey back in time. Rennie, naturally, thinks he's a nutter! However, very suddenly and with no real scientific explanation, lightning strikes and Power is transported back to 1784.
Now you would THINK that a man who was educated at MIT would be able to somehow muddle through the 18th century. Sadly, however, he seems a bit dim and only succeeds in convincing those of the past that he's either crazy or in league with Satan! He just doesn't do a credible job of fitting in and again and again freaks people out because he knows the future. The only one who doesn't behave afraid of him is lovely Ann Blyth. But, by the end of the movie, Power is once again transported magically to the present time and he and Blyth are parted...of sorts.
It was a neat idea having him fall in love and this could have been handled better--such as her returning to the present with him. Additionally, as his character seemed awfully dumb (being unable to come close to fitting in) and there was no explanation for any of this hocus-pocus, I was just left more confused--feeling like a lot of important details STILL should have been worked out before the movie was completed.
An earnest effort that just doesn't quite hit the mark for me.
The film begins with Power playing a scientist from MIT. While he should have been quite happy about his life, he is rather distant from everyone. When a co-worker (Michael Rennie) talks to him about this, Power confides that he is happy alone AND he plans on leaving--for another time!!! How, he doesn't know, but through reading a diary and looking at an 18th century painting that looks exactly like him, Tyrone is sure he's about to take this amazing journey back in time. Rennie, naturally, thinks he's a nutter! However, very suddenly and with no real scientific explanation, lightning strikes and Power is transported back to 1784.
Now you would THINK that a man who was educated at MIT would be able to somehow muddle through the 18th century. Sadly, however, he seems a bit dim and only succeeds in convincing those of the past that he's either crazy or in league with Satan! He just doesn't do a credible job of fitting in and again and again freaks people out because he knows the future. The only one who doesn't behave afraid of him is lovely Ann Blyth. But, by the end of the movie, Power is once again transported magically to the present time and he and Blyth are parted...of sorts.
It was a neat idea having him fall in love and this could have been handled better--such as her returning to the present with him. Additionally, as his character seemed awfully dumb (being unable to come close to fitting in) and there was no explanation for any of this hocus-pocus, I was just left more confused--feeling like a lot of important details STILL should have been worked out before the movie was completed.
An earnest effort that just doesn't quite hit the mark for me.
Just as good, if not better than Somewhere in Time
spideymac-116 March 2005
I saw this before I saw Somewhere in Time and it was very unique for its time with the change from black and white to color. I felt the story was very excellent and later just as good as (the modernized remake), all things considered. Of course, I'm somewhat more partial to Jane Syemour vis-a-vis Ann Blythe. I have not had the privilege of seeing the "Berkely Square" version. I was fortunate enough to view this as "I'll Never Forget You" on TV quite some time ago. I forget the Movie Program but I was very disappointed to find out it was not available in any version on VHS or DVD. I place this romantic version along side of another favorite of mine, i.e. " Luck of The Irish" also starring Tyrone Power.
Romantic Fantasy About Traveling To The Past
Cinebug1 August 1998
Warning: Spoilers
I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU is the remake of BERKELEY SQUARE and is about scientist Peter Standish (Tyrone Power) who has such a love of the past that he "wills" himself back to the eighteenth century. While there, he falls in love with a girl who never existed (Ann Blyth).
Since he knows about future events he is looked upon as a conjurer, at first; but as his predictions never fail, he soon comes to be seen as an emisary of the devil.
With his 20th century knowledge of science, he makes models of famous inventions: the electric light, the steam engine, and talks about splitting the atom and using chloroform in surgery. He believes he can speed up progress by a century and a half, and is surprised to find that people are afraid of his ideas. The 18th century is not at all as he expected. He is shocked by the filth and the cruelty he sees all around him. The only thing he loves about the era is Helen. But she too is taken away from him as he is mysteriously whisked back to the 20th century.
The film was made in the U.K.; was evidently poorly distributed in the U.S. and is quite difficult to see. I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU is superior to BERKELEY SQUARE (which seems very stagey when seen today). Along the way, many fine British character actors play wonderful cameos of Dr. Johnson (Robert Atkins) and the Duchess of Devonshire (Kathleen Byron, more famous as the sex mad nun in BLACK NARCISSUS).
If you like romantic films and you ever get the chance, see this film.
Since he knows about future events he is looked upon as a conjurer, at first; but as his predictions never fail, he soon comes to be seen as an emisary of the devil.
With his 20th century knowledge of science, he makes models of famous inventions: the electric light, the steam engine, and talks about splitting the atom and using chloroform in surgery. He believes he can speed up progress by a century and a half, and is surprised to find that people are afraid of his ideas. The 18th century is not at all as he expected. He is shocked by the filth and the cruelty he sees all around him. The only thing he loves about the era is Helen. But she too is taken away from him as he is mysteriously whisked back to the 20th century.
The film was made in the U.K.; was evidently poorly distributed in the U.S. and is quite difficult to see. I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU is superior to BERKELEY SQUARE (which seems very stagey when seen today). Along the way, many fine British character actors play wonderful cameos of Dr. Johnson (Robert Atkins) and the Duchess of Devonshire (Kathleen Byron, more famous as the sex mad nun in BLACK NARCISSUS).
If you like romantic films and you ever get the chance, see this film.
I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU (Roy Ward Baker, 1951) ***
Bunuel197621 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I'd been looking forward to this one, in view of its time-travel/reincarnation theme (released as part of a 10-movie set of minor Tyrone Power vehicles, I had opted to acquire it through ulterior sources though I may still get my hands on some of the other titles). Still, I was surprised by how well this implausible yet fascinating theme is handled here surely making for one of the star's most underrated (and unusual) efforts.
Made in Britain, the film was based on John L. Balderston's romantic fantasy play "Berkeley Square" (the literate adaptation here is by Ranald MacDougall) already brought to the screen in 1933 under that name (while the original title of this one is actually THE HOUSE IN THE SQUARE); the first version is virtually impossible to see nowadays, though it did land Leslie Howard an Oscar nomination the ultimate irony, given that the transcendental narrative essentially bestows its protagonist with immortality, is that an untimely demise was in store for the leading man of both cinematic renditions!
Anyway, Power is an American scientist working in England (the initial radiation experiment is intriguing but superfluous and misleading under the circumstances) who lives in a house belonging to an ancestor of his and who conveniently looked just like him. Finding the latter's diary, he learns that he had been persecuted for his strange beliefs and practices and was eventually locked up in an insane asylum he becomes convinced that, by some quirk of nature, the two had actually exchanged places and, soon enough, he's hit by a bolt of lightning and wakes up in 1784!
He meets the family of his forebear including the latter's future wife (Beatrice Campbell); thanks to letters which had been preserved and that he had read, Power's initially able to comfortably fill his shoes however, he then meets and falls for Ann Blyth, Campbell's sister and of whom he was unaware! Soon, the hero begins to commit other gaffes by which he demonstrates to be perceptive of things that hadn't yet occurred or, at least, weren't common knowledge (from the gift of a shawl for Campbell which Blyth hadn't even unpacked, the secret and subsequently famous portrait of a Duchess played by Kathleen Byron by the painter Gainsborough, delivering the lady's own obituary at a ball, not to mention 'feeding' Dr. Johnson with some of his own celebrated epigrams[!], etc). This doesn't sit at all well with either Campbell (who's unwilling to keep up her engagement to Power, not least because of his constant attentions for her sister) or the vindictive Raymond Huntley (Blyth's much older suitor). The hero, finding himself increasingly out-of-touch with the times, retires to a basement in a poor quarter of town to 'recreate' future inventions such as the light bulb and the model of a steam-ship; when these are discovered, they're branded the handiwork of a sorcerer by eminent scientist Felix Aylmer the place is destroyed there and then, while Power is on his way to perpetual confinement in Bedlam!
Other notable cast members are Dennis Price (playing an amiable rake, as was his fashion during this time the relentless and rather effeminate pursuit of etiquette by the aristocrats, in fact, is just about the sole blemish on the picture) and Michael Rennie (as Power's pragmatic scientist associate in the modern-day sequences). Incidentally, the film utilizes moody black-and-white cinematography for these bookends while soft but attractive color is employed throughout the central 'fantasy' section; both are courtesy of Georges Perinal, a top French cameraman resident in Britain for over thirty years. Similarly, Power effectively tackles both facets of his character: the film, ultimately, can be read as both a morality play (the hero's decision to tempt Fate which, as often happens, subsequently threatens to unbalance the order of the things) and a celebration of that well-worn Surrealist concept l' amour fou in his relationship with a radiant Blyth (herself playing a dual role, the second as Rennie's sister who had cared for the Power's even more bewildered ancestor in his unseen tenure in the 20th century).
Given my appreciation for THE HOUSE IN THE SQUARE (the title I'm partial to myself), I'm all the more interested now in one day catching the original version. Finally, this was one of British director Baker (a future horror regular)'s brief four-movie brush with Hollywood I'd already watched DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952; which I also own) and INFERNO (1953), but not the minor noir NIGHT WITHOUT SLEEP (1952).
Made in Britain, the film was based on John L. Balderston's romantic fantasy play "Berkeley Square" (the literate adaptation here is by Ranald MacDougall) already brought to the screen in 1933 under that name (while the original title of this one is actually THE HOUSE IN THE SQUARE); the first version is virtually impossible to see nowadays, though it did land Leslie Howard an Oscar nomination the ultimate irony, given that the transcendental narrative essentially bestows its protagonist with immortality, is that an untimely demise was in store for the leading man of both cinematic renditions!
Anyway, Power is an American scientist working in England (the initial radiation experiment is intriguing but superfluous and misleading under the circumstances) who lives in a house belonging to an ancestor of his and who conveniently looked just like him. Finding the latter's diary, he learns that he had been persecuted for his strange beliefs and practices and was eventually locked up in an insane asylum he becomes convinced that, by some quirk of nature, the two had actually exchanged places and, soon enough, he's hit by a bolt of lightning and wakes up in 1784!
He meets the family of his forebear including the latter's future wife (Beatrice Campbell); thanks to letters which had been preserved and that he had read, Power's initially able to comfortably fill his shoes however, he then meets and falls for Ann Blyth, Campbell's sister and of whom he was unaware! Soon, the hero begins to commit other gaffes by which he demonstrates to be perceptive of things that hadn't yet occurred or, at least, weren't common knowledge (from the gift of a shawl for Campbell which Blyth hadn't even unpacked, the secret and subsequently famous portrait of a Duchess played by Kathleen Byron by the painter Gainsborough, delivering the lady's own obituary at a ball, not to mention 'feeding' Dr. Johnson with some of his own celebrated epigrams[!], etc). This doesn't sit at all well with either Campbell (who's unwilling to keep up her engagement to Power, not least because of his constant attentions for her sister) or the vindictive Raymond Huntley (Blyth's much older suitor). The hero, finding himself increasingly out-of-touch with the times, retires to a basement in a poor quarter of town to 'recreate' future inventions such as the light bulb and the model of a steam-ship; when these are discovered, they're branded the handiwork of a sorcerer by eminent scientist Felix Aylmer the place is destroyed there and then, while Power is on his way to perpetual confinement in Bedlam!
Other notable cast members are Dennis Price (playing an amiable rake, as was his fashion during this time the relentless and rather effeminate pursuit of etiquette by the aristocrats, in fact, is just about the sole blemish on the picture) and Michael Rennie (as Power's pragmatic scientist associate in the modern-day sequences). Incidentally, the film utilizes moody black-and-white cinematography for these bookends while soft but attractive color is employed throughout the central 'fantasy' section; both are courtesy of Georges Perinal, a top French cameraman resident in Britain for over thirty years. Similarly, Power effectively tackles both facets of his character: the film, ultimately, can be read as both a morality play (the hero's decision to tempt Fate which, as often happens, subsequently threatens to unbalance the order of the things) and a celebration of that well-worn Surrealist concept l' amour fou in his relationship with a radiant Blyth (herself playing a dual role, the second as Rennie's sister who had cared for the Power's even more bewildered ancestor in his unseen tenure in the 20th century).
Given my appreciation for THE HOUSE IN THE SQUARE (the title I'm partial to myself), I'm all the more interested now in one day catching the original version. Finally, this was one of British director Baker (a future horror regular)'s brief four-movie brush with Hollywood I'd already watched DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952; which I also own) and INFERNO (1953), but not the minor noir NIGHT WITHOUT SLEEP (1952).
" Steping into one's past is easy, the difficulty is in getting back "
thinker169120 October 2013
This movie is called " I'll never forget you. " The director is Roy Ward Baker and his finish product does a remarkable job of it becoming a Masterpiece. The story however could have been selected from those strange episodes of 'The Twilight Zone'. It concerns a modern day American scientist named Peter Standish (Tyrone Power) who not only works on a project dealing with Nuclear energy, but also inherits an early English house set in the fashionable part of Londan. Once there he has a over powering feeling of deja vu and actually believes he has lived there before. Believeing he is the direct descendant of his father, he confides in his best friend Roger Forsyth (Michael Rennie) that he will travel back to the past. Dismissing the possibility, Roger invites Peter to stay with him for a vacation, when he abruptly disappears and reappears as his ancestor in 1784 A.D. During his absence Peter takes the place of his ancestor and enjoys all the sights and experiences of England which becomes more dangerous the longer he remains. The movie itself becomes a delightful dream but one which evolves into a nightmare. This is a must film for Tyrone power fans and is further enhanced with the talents of Michael Rennie. All in all a Classic film for many a collector. ****
Not one of Power's best!
JohnHowardReid14 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This should have been a really good film, but I found it lacking in several important respects. But let's discuss the good points first. The sets and the Technicolor photography are magnificent, and I like the whole idea of presenting the past NEGATIVELY! The sheer squalor alone is enough to shatter any romantic associations we might have, and when you add brutality, abuse and the negative lot of almost all women, both rich and poor, the negativity adds up to almost complete nausea. This was certainly a ground-breaking idea but it's definitely not one that is going to endear the film to 99% of its intended audience. But I congratulate Fox for making such an expensive movie purely for professional critics like myself who are tired of all the sunny, bright and happy movies made for general consumption. Mind you, I wouldn't like this transformation to become a permanent fixture, but it is nice to see the ugly and horrible side of the past in order to remind us how fortunate we are to be living in the present century. Mind you, I got the impression that Ty Power's reaction was also negative. The best that I can say about his performance is that he says his lines distinctly, even though his heart is obviously not in them. The other players make little impression. Henry Koster's direction, as usual, is at its most persuasive in the background scenes. Elsewhere, it tends to lack backbone.
One of the best Tyrone Powers movies, not forgotten I hope
snowmaxbear3 January 2005
This was one of the best 'love story' movies that I remember when I was a teen. I haven't seen this movie also in about 40 plus years. I hope somewhere that a copy was saved and released as a DVD. I think it was one of Tyrone Powers great love stories and the cast was excellent to match. I have wanted to see this movie so many times and looked in so many places to try and find a way to either see it again or obtain some sort of copy. I'd like to think that before I drop dead I would like to be able to see this movie one last time. I hope again that it hasn't been lost forever. The movie has already been described by others at IMDb. I wish more movies were made like this one and we had more actors like the ones in this movie. I remember seeing it on a black and white TV and being brought to tears after watching it on the Late show in NYC. One thing I remember about this movie was the strong love between Ann Blyth and Tyrone Power and how one could actually die of heart break.
Remake of Berkeley Square
blanche-25 May 2012
Fox owned this property, as it was done as Berkeley Square in 1933. In 1950, it was remade for Tyrone Power, co-starring Ann Blyth, Michael Rennie, and Dennis Price.
This film, along with Marie Antoinette, were in the top ten of all films on TCM that viewers requested be put out on DVD. It finally happened with the Tyrone Power Matinée Idol set, released in 2008.
Power plays Peter Standish, a scientist obsessed with the past. He knows from a diary that he is destined to go there and switch places with his ancestor of the same name, but he doesn't know how it will happen. During a thunder and lightning storm, he winds up outside his house, but it is now 18th century London. He has arrived from America to marry Kate Pettigrew, but instead falls for her sister Helen. Helen is the only person the Standish of the future knows nothing about. She was never mentioned in any of his research.
Not only is 18th Century London not the peaceful, gentle place he imagined, but as he predicts certain things or knows things he shouldn't, people become frightened of him. The only one not afraid of him is Helen. Peter knows he has to go back to the future, but he wants to stay with Helen.
This is a lovely fantasy about going back to the past, a subject authors have always been interested in. And, like the main character in "Paris at Midnight," the past isn't all it was cracked up to be.
The present in this film is in black and white, and the future is in god-awful color - this film is not restored. Power looks terrific in black and white, and I have seen him in color many, many times, and he always looked fantastic. However, in this film, he looks pasty - that may have been a deliberate choice because he's not really of the time, as Ann Blyth looks very beautiful. Power had to shave two or three times a day when he was filming, and for some reason, he didn't do that in the past section of the film. Since I had seen him so many times and he was always clean-shaven except when the role called for something else, I found it distracting.
Power and Blyth both give very good, sensitive performances. Rennie is completely wasted -- he must have done the film to fulfill his contract with 20th Century Fox -- but he is good also.
The last time I saw this film before now was when I was a child, and I never forgot it. It's a beautiful story that contains some important lessons: love is eternal, and we're where we're supposed to be.
This film, along with Marie Antoinette, were in the top ten of all films on TCM that viewers requested be put out on DVD. It finally happened with the Tyrone Power Matinée Idol set, released in 2008.
Power plays Peter Standish, a scientist obsessed with the past. He knows from a diary that he is destined to go there and switch places with his ancestor of the same name, but he doesn't know how it will happen. During a thunder and lightning storm, he winds up outside his house, but it is now 18th century London. He has arrived from America to marry Kate Pettigrew, but instead falls for her sister Helen. Helen is the only person the Standish of the future knows nothing about. She was never mentioned in any of his research.
Not only is 18th Century London not the peaceful, gentle place he imagined, but as he predicts certain things or knows things he shouldn't, people become frightened of him. The only one not afraid of him is Helen. Peter knows he has to go back to the future, but he wants to stay with Helen.
This is a lovely fantasy about going back to the past, a subject authors have always been interested in. And, like the main character in "Paris at Midnight," the past isn't all it was cracked up to be.
The present in this film is in black and white, and the future is in god-awful color - this film is not restored. Power looks terrific in black and white, and I have seen him in color many, many times, and he always looked fantastic. However, in this film, he looks pasty - that may have been a deliberate choice because he's not really of the time, as Ann Blyth looks very beautiful. Power had to shave two or three times a day when he was filming, and for some reason, he didn't do that in the past section of the film. Since I had seen him so many times and he was always clean-shaven except when the role called for something else, I found it distracting.
Power and Blyth both give very good, sensitive performances. Rennie is completely wasted -- he must have done the film to fulfill his contract with 20th Century Fox -- but he is good also.
The last time I saw this film before now was when I was a child, and I never forgot it. It's a beautiful story that contains some important lessons: love is eternal, and we're where we're supposed to be.
I'll never forget it!!
carolyn-188 August 1999
Warning: Spoilers
Unforgettable. This is one of my all time favorite films. I saw it on TV only once in the 1960's and was fascinated with the film and have wanted to see it again ever since. I'm fascinated with theory of time travel and I think this is one of the best films dealing with this subject, along with perhaps "Somewhere in Time". This has a great cast, Anne Blythe, Tyrone Power and Michael Rennie. It is perhaps Tyrone Power's finest work and an all around good production. It was filmed in B&W and color. It changed to color when he went back in time, which was very effective. As in the "Wizard of Oz" Nice touch! As other reviewers have commented "WHEN WILL THIS TREASURE BE RELEASED ON DVD"!!!!
An Ode To Progress
boblipton18 November 2023
Tyrone Power is an American nuclear physicist disenchanted with the world he has helped create. He is in London, where he has inherited a house on Berkeley Square, from an ancestor whose portrait, still hung there, looks exactly like him. He has read the man's diary, and developed the fancy that he will go back in time and take that man's place for a while, which is exactly what happens.
This remake of Berkeley Square was shot in England by the reliable Roy Ward Baker, and has a fine British cast. Besides also visiting American co-star Ann Blyth, it boasts appearances by Michael Rennie, Dennis Price, Beatrice Campbell, Kathleen Byron, and Felix Aylmer. Its themes are the intense, unfulfilled romance between Tower and Miss Blyth, and the near-barbaric superstition, society, and conditions of the 18th Century, subjects near and dear to the hearts of post-War Americans, especially those of 20th Century-Fox, which produced several films about this time in Britain to use profits blocked by then-current British regulations. Although the endpieces in modern London are shot in crisp black and white, cinematographer Georges Perinal's brilliant color portratit of 18th-Century London is an especial treat, particularly the street scenes.
This remake of Berkeley Square was shot in England by the reliable Roy Ward Baker, and has a fine British cast. Besides also visiting American co-star Ann Blyth, it boasts appearances by Michael Rennie, Dennis Price, Beatrice Campbell, Kathleen Byron, and Felix Aylmer. Its themes are the intense, unfulfilled romance between Tower and Miss Blyth, and the near-barbaric superstition, society, and conditions of the 18th Century, subjects near and dear to the hearts of post-War Americans, especially those of 20th Century-Fox, which produced several films about this time in Britain to use profits blocked by then-current British regulations. Although the endpieces in modern London are shot in crisp black and white, cinematographer Georges Perinal's brilliant color portratit of 18th-Century London is an especial treat, particularly the street scenes.
Mostly, I remember the very touching ending.
jhand265122 July 2004
Like many I haven't seen this movie in years, but it gave me a lasting impression. Thing I remembered the most is when the gal in the past (Ann Blyth) knew that Tyrone was going back to the future (where have I heard that phrase before?) she told him that she would have the letters in her tombstone cut deep so that he could read them in the future. When he returned to the future (his present) he went to the cemetery and found her tombstone, old and fading, but still marked as she had promised. Touching, and sad. Then later, lo and behold, the spitting image of her appears in his present and he has a chance to "renew" his love. Great movie, in the great old black and white format. You could categorize it as the forerunner of Somewhere in Time, with Jane Seymour appearing as possibly the loveliest woman in film.
A fantasy of love, or a psychological drama and lesson?
SimonJack7 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
"I'll Never Forget You" is a drama fantasy and love story set in London. Or, is it a psychological thriller of sorts? This is a revised story from a 1933 film, "Berkeley Square" that was based on a stage play that itself was based somewhat on the unfinished 1917 novel, "The Sense of the Past," by American author, Henry James. The early play and film clearly fantasized about a person changing places in time. James' novel had a touch of comedy as well. While this remake closely follows the details of the first film, the plot twist at the end offers another possible conclusion. Perhaps all of Peter Standish's fantasy was just that - a fantasy of his imagination whilst he was having a nervous breakdown. I found that an intriguing and clever possibility at the end. It wouldn't be the only film with such a plot, although I can't think of another one woven in a plot of changing places in time.
If one is drawn in by the love in the story, it might be easy to miss this bigger plot. But the love is a key to the solution in the end. Tyrone Power is an American nuclear scientist, Peter Standish. He is working as part of a team in a British research project, with a close associate, Roger Forsyth. He's something of a loner and has been in London for several months. Roger drives him home one evening and he sees the elegant, historic house where Peter lives. It has never had its interior changed beyond electrical and plumbing updating since the mid-18th century.
Peter tells Roger part of his family tree dating back two centuries, and how he inherited the house. He shows Roger a diary and other historical records. Roger finds that Peter is obsessed with his family's past. Peter says that he is going back 150 years to 1874 London. He has romanticized ideas of the beauty of London and that time. When Roger asks him how he would go back and return, he doesn't know, but that it will happen. Roger is worried about his mental state and wants to stay the night, but Peter says, no. After he walks Roger to his car and starts back to his house, lightning strikes right behind him.
As he picks himself up and opens the door, he's in 18th century dress, and he has just arrived from America. Meeting him at the door is Kate Pettigrew, the woman he would marry according to the diary and records. He then meets the duchess and the rest of the family. He knows them all from having studied the family records, but he's stymied when he meets the younger sister of Kate, Helen Pettigrew (played by Ann Blyth). There was no mention of her in the records.
Over the next few weeks, Peter explores London, rents a cellar where he assembles some rudimentary inventions - an array of batteries with a light, a model boat with a miniature steam engine, and others. But he also sees the drudgery of many people, and the filth of the city. He also says things to family members and others about things that had not yet occurred. Others are frightened by him and think that he may be mad. Some plan to have him committed to an asylum. He has grown close with Helen and distant from Kate. Authorities go to his lab and are frightened by the inventions, thinking that he uses some sort of witchcraft. They destroy the lab. He has convinced Helen that he has come from the future. He and Helen profess their love for one another and Helen now says she can envision some of the inventions of the future he has talked about.
As Peter is about to be taken to an asylum, a storm comes up and lighting strikes again. The next instance, he's back - or forward to the 20th century and just entering his house. Roger arrives and says they had been looking for him everywhere. He had been sick and behaving strangely and wildly for weeks. Peter asks him what he had done and Roger says, "For the past seven weeks you've been having a nervous breakdown. This is the first time you've even known who I am."
When Roger's sister arrives, Martha is the Helen of the past. Peter says that she reminds him of someone he knew. Martha says, "I should hope so. Roger and I have been taking care of you for weeks now." Peter then says, "Maybe I did have a nervous breakdown." Then he remembers that Helen had shown him an ancient Egyptian cross that was known as a key of life. She put it in a desk cupboard, saying that they would be united in love "in Gods time." Peter rushes upstairs and finds the cross. He then hurries out to St. Mark's graveyard to look for Helen's grave. He finds it and reads the inscription that she was the younger daughter of Lord and Duchess Pettigrew. She died Sept. 17, 1784, at age 23. That was the day that Peter had last been with here and when he returned to his own time. Martha is now at the gravesite, and they walk off together with Roger joining them at the gate.
So, did Peter really get transported back and forth in time by bolts of lightning? Or had he become so obsessed with his family history that he had a nervous breakdown and imagined his change in time? Was it a far-out fantasy, or a man's hallucinations in a psychological thriller? Audiences may be divided on this, but to me this was a very clever plot and screenplay done with a lesson in mind - about living for the present and future, and not in the past.
If one is drawn in by the love in the story, it might be easy to miss this bigger plot. But the love is a key to the solution in the end. Tyrone Power is an American nuclear scientist, Peter Standish. He is working as part of a team in a British research project, with a close associate, Roger Forsyth. He's something of a loner and has been in London for several months. Roger drives him home one evening and he sees the elegant, historic house where Peter lives. It has never had its interior changed beyond electrical and plumbing updating since the mid-18th century.
Peter tells Roger part of his family tree dating back two centuries, and how he inherited the house. He shows Roger a diary and other historical records. Roger finds that Peter is obsessed with his family's past. Peter says that he is going back 150 years to 1874 London. He has romanticized ideas of the beauty of London and that time. When Roger asks him how he would go back and return, he doesn't know, but that it will happen. Roger is worried about his mental state and wants to stay the night, but Peter says, no. After he walks Roger to his car and starts back to his house, lightning strikes right behind him.
As he picks himself up and opens the door, he's in 18th century dress, and he has just arrived from America. Meeting him at the door is Kate Pettigrew, the woman he would marry according to the diary and records. He then meets the duchess and the rest of the family. He knows them all from having studied the family records, but he's stymied when he meets the younger sister of Kate, Helen Pettigrew (played by Ann Blyth). There was no mention of her in the records.
Over the next few weeks, Peter explores London, rents a cellar where he assembles some rudimentary inventions - an array of batteries with a light, a model boat with a miniature steam engine, and others. But he also sees the drudgery of many people, and the filth of the city. He also says things to family members and others about things that had not yet occurred. Others are frightened by him and think that he may be mad. Some plan to have him committed to an asylum. He has grown close with Helen and distant from Kate. Authorities go to his lab and are frightened by the inventions, thinking that he uses some sort of witchcraft. They destroy the lab. He has convinced Helen that he has come from the future. He and Helen profess their love for one another and Helen now says she can envision some of the inventions of the future he has talked about.
As Peter is about to be taken to an asylum, a storm comes up and lighting strikes again. The next instance, he's back - or forward to the 20th century and just entering his house. Roger arrives and says they had been looking for him everywhere. He had been sick and behaving strangely and wildly for weeks. Peter asks him what he had done and Roger says, "For the past seven weeks you've been having a nervous breakdown. This is the first time you've even known who I am."
When Roger's sister arrives, Martha is the Helen of the past. Peter says that she reminds him of someone he knew. Martha says, "I should hope so. Roger and I have been taking care of you for weeks now." Peter then says, "Maybe I did have a nervous breakdown." Then he remembers that Helen had shown him an ancient Egyptian cross that was known as a key of life. She put it in a desk cupboard, saying that they would be united in love "in Gods time." Peter rushes upstairs and finds the cross. He then hurries out to St. Mark's graveyard to look for Helen's grave. He finds it and reads the inscription that she was the younger daughter of Lord and Duchess Pettigrew. She died Sept. 17, 1784, at age 23. That was the day that Peter had last been with here and when he returned to his own time. Martha is now at the gravesite, and they walk off together with Roger joining them at the gate.
So, did Peter really get transported back and forth in time by bolts of lightning? Or had he become so obsessed with his family history that he had a nervous breakdown and imagined his change in time? Was it a far-out fantasy, or a man's hallucinations in a psychological thriller? Audiences may be divided on this, but to me this was a very clever plot and screenplay done with a lesson in mind - about living for the present and future, and not in the past.
A time travelling romancer
vampire_hounddog3 September 2020
An American nuclear scientist (Tyrone Power) living in London is transported back in time 200 years to his same family London town house and comes into contact with his own ancestors. His crazy ideas about the future are feared, but while there he also falls in love (Ann Blyth).
An interesting blend of romantic costumer and science-fiction in a film that recalls many similarly themed later films such as THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE (2009) and ABOUT TIME (2013) among others which in itself is a remake of BERKELEY SQUARE (1933). The main draw of the film is the switch from black and white in the modern sequences switching to colour in the 18th century scenes. A British-American co-production, in the UK it's titled I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU.
An interesting blend of romantic costumer and science-fiction in a film that recalls many similarly themed later films such as THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE (2009) and ABOUT TIME (2013) among others which in itself is a remake of BERKELEY SQUARE (1933). The main draw of the film is the switch from black and white in the modern sequences switching to colour in the 18th century scenes. A British-American co-production, in the UK it's titled I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU.
I'll never forget this movie
RHStampe28 December 2001
I saw this movie in 1951, when I was seven years old. Because several scenes remained engraved on my mind, years later, when I recalled those scenes, I was able to identify the stars (Tyrone Power and Ann Blythe). Heaven knows how I remembered the name of the movie. I am DYING to see it again because of the powerful impression it made on me as a little girl. I scour the TV Guide regularly, but so far no luck. Does anyone have any idea who owns this movie? I keep hoping Turner will find it in some lot of films he buys and show it on his TCM station.
Decades before time-breaking sci-fi giants like Back To The Future, Arrival, Mirage, and Tenet.
SAMTHEBESTEST20 February 2023
I'll Never Forget You (1951) :
Brief Review -
Decades before time-breaking sci-fi giants like Back To The Future, Arrival, Mirage, and Tenet. I'll start by saying, I'll Never Forget You is an underrated gem. Now that I have liked this film, I am damn sure I'll like its original version, "Berkeley Square" (1933), too. I'll catch it very soon, I promise. We have seen more than 10p films on time travel, time machines, and other such formulas in the last 7-8 decades, and out of them, hardly 5 or 6 have actually had an impact. The best has to be Back To The Future, a timeless classic, and the last (so far) has to be Nolan's Tenet (2020). To be honest, I don't give a damn about other flicks. I'll Never Forget You was a new formula for its time, as was Berkeley Square. I should give it to the 30s flick more than the 50s adaptation because cinema was more challenging and difficult in the 30s-the beginning of talkies. The musical fantasy classic "The Wizard of OZ" (1939) used the same technique of black and white frames in the beginning and the ending scenes, while the rest of the film is in colour. For Berkeley Square, it was not possible, so I'll Never Forget You doesn't let you forget it so easily. The film is about a 20th-century American atomic scientist who is transported to the 18th century. With him knowing the future and many unknown things, he becomes a famous personality, but that's what keeps him away from the closed ones. Supposed to be married and have children with Kate, he falls in love with his cousin. But he has to leave her because he cannot challenge the future or what has already happened in the past. Expectedly, he returns, but there is a twist to his passionate love story at the end, and it's quite emotional too. Tyrone Powers and Ann Blyth's chemistry feels lovable in gorgeous colours. Roy Ward Baker's attempt is simply pathbreaking and deserves more attention. A slight push in the climax, and this would have been a groundbreaking cult film.
RATING - 7.5/10*
By - #samthebestest.
Decades before time-breaking sci-fi giants like Back To The Future, Arrival, Mirage, and Tenet. I'll start by saying, I'll Never Forget You is an underrated gem. Now that I have liked this film, I am damn sure I'll like its original version, "Berkeley Square" (1933), too. I'll catch it very soon, I promise. We have seen more than 10p films on time travel, time machines, and other such formulas in the last 7-8 decades, and out of them, hardly 5 or 6 have actually had an impact. The best has to be Back To The Future, a timeless classic, and the last (so far) has to be Nolan's Tenet (2020). To be honest, I don't give a damn about other flicks. I'll Never Forget You was a new formula for its time, as was Berkeley Square. I should give it to the 30s flick more than the 50s adaptation because cinema was more challenging and difficult in the 30s-the beginning of talkies. The musical fantasy classic "The Wizard of OZ" (1939) used the same technique of black and white frames in the beginning and the ending scenes, while the rest of the film is in colour. For Berkeley Square, it was not possible, so I'll Never Forget You doesn't let you forget it so easily. The film is about a 20th-century American atomic scientist who is transported to the 18th century. With him knowing the future and many unknown things, he becomes a famous personality, but that's what keeps him away from the closed ones. Supposed to be married and have children with Kate, he falls in love with his cousin. But he has to leave her because he cannot challenge the future or what has already happened in the past. Expectedly, he returns, but there is a twist to his passionate love story at the end, and it's quite emotional too. Tyrone Powers and Ann Blyth's chemistry feels lovable in gorgeous colours. Roy Ward Baker's attempt is simply pathbreaking and deserves more attention. A slight push in the climax, and this would have been a groundbreaking cult film.
RATING - 7.5/10*
By - #samthebestest.
Science meets historical romance with bitter consequences.
CinemaSerf10 February 2021
Tyrone Power is "Standish", a scientist determined to prove that time travel is possible. Miraculously, he manages to get himself back to 18th Century London where his natural charms, and his impressive knowledge of, what for him is history, but for them day to day life quickly establishes him as a social attraction. In his new dimension, he also manages to fall in love with Ann Blyth ("Helen") but before anything can come of it, he manages to irritate the doyenne of British society - the Duchess of Devonshire (Kathleen Byron) and this begins to bring suspicion about who he is and where/when he came from. Needless to say, his explanations fall on sceptically deaf ears and he must flee back to his own time before incarceration in an asylum beckons. It's interesting for a few reasons - not least the older Georgian Engand scenes are in sumptuous colour, the more modern in black and white - and the ending is really quite a coup for director Roy Baker as it is quite poignant, and rather unexpected. Power is engaging in his dual role, as is the foppish Dennis Price who is continually putting his "boot in his mouth". We have just the one scene with the usually menacing Byron's glamorous Duchess, which is a shame and Raymond Huntley and Felix Aylmer are adequate as his denouncers. Sadly, for me, Ann Blyth is just to simpering. She always reminded me of Joan Greenwood - just without the charisma. Here, she offers little beyond her obvious good looks. Still, it's a good Vernian-style fantasy that has held up remarkably well.
Convincing sets vs. poor premise
Philipp_Flersheim4 November 2021
I am generally wary of films with historical subjects (e.g. Unlike the majority of viewers I find 'Ben-Hur' terrible), but this one disappointed me less than some others. Pros: The picture is well acted and the sets are extraordinary. Both the interior of houses and the streets of 1784-London look absolutely convincing: the contrast of elegance and dirt, the mud, the lack of gutters and street lighting etc. On top of that brutality, child labour and so on - really convincing. All this is much better done than in any twenty-first century British period drama I have seen. I also liked the idea to show the twentieth-century scenes in black-and-white and the eighteenth-century ones in colour. Cons: The whole premise did not convince me, and I don't mean the time travelling bit. It is a fantasy film, after all. But that Tyrone Power is accused of insanity because he experiments with electricity and steam power is absurd. This is supposed to be 1784. Steam engines had been used in Cornish and Welsh mines for almost a century, Benjamin Franklin had experimented with electricity decades earlier, and Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta were just then on the point of major breakthroughs (battery power etc.). All in all eighteenth century Britain was fairly tolerant of excentrics; I guess Power would have had a good chance of getting away with his experiments, even of being admired. A minor point is that I found the music terrible. On balance, I guess for me the pros of this picture outweigh the cons, but not by much.
A House In The Square
dbuxton122 October 2006
I too saw this film, many years ago, when I was in the Royal Air Force in Germany (circa 1957) and remember it as a very original film, beginning and ending filmed in black and white, which in itself is unusual, but was ideal for this type of film. Since the advent of both DVDs and videos, I have constantly looked to see if it is available for purchase, but as yet, it isn't. I am really astonished at this, because, for a "time travel" film, this must rate as one of the better ones, with a high quality cast. It compares very favourably with "A Moment In Time", which has been shown on British television, but A House In The Square certainly hasn't, in recent years. If anyone knows if there are any plans to either show it, or a DVD (Region 2) is to be released, please let me know
Mark Twain meets 'Kate and Leopold'
HotToastyRag6 May 2019
If you're looking for a cross between Kate and Leopold and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, look no further than I'll Never Forget You. It's a clever classic starring Tyrone Power as a frustrated American scientist in post-war England. He explains to his friend and coworker Michael Rennie that he believes in time travel and in fact, due to diaries and letters he's discovered in his home, he's already travelled back in time two hundred years and impersonated his ancestor. Once Michael is thoroughly confused and frightened off, Ty's left alone and struck by lightening.
He collapses, then reaches for the door of his home. The film has changed to Technicolor, and his clothes have changed to the latest fashions of the 1700s. Ty's gone back in time! And while he thinks he knows everything that will happen, he doesn't count on the beautiful Ann Blyth, whose presence was never mentioned in any documents he read during his research. Everyone else he meets get quickly frightened by his prognostications, but Ann is sympathetic and interested. Naturally, they fall in love, but since their romance wasn't written in history, will everything be changed?
As you can tell from the title, this isn't a light movie, nor is it particularly happy. It is a nice romantic drama, though, with some well-written passages to explain time travel. I like these types of stories, since Mark Twain's novel is one of my favorites of all time. If you particularly liked the 1949 Bing Crosby version, you'll probably like this Tyrone Power movie. I can't tell you why, but after you watch it, you'll understand.
He collapses, then reaches for the door of his home. The film has changed to Technicolor, and his clothes have changed to the latest fashions of the 1700s. Ty's gone back in time! And while he thinks he knows everything that will happen, he doesn't count on the beautiful Ann Blyth, whose presence was never mentioned in any documents he read during his research. Everyone else he meets get quickly frightened by his prognostications, but Ann is sympathetic and interested. Naturally, they fall in love, but since their romance wasn't written in history, will everything be changed?
As you can tell from the title, this isn't a light movie, nor is it particularly happy. It is a nice romantic drama, though, with some well-written passages to explain time travel. I like these types of stories, since Mark Twain's novel is one of my favorites of all time. If you particularly liked the 1949 Bing Crosby version, you'll probably like this Tyrone Power movie. I can't tell you why, but after you watch it, you'll understand.
my wife's favourite,why is it never on tv?
j.p.robson17 June 2000
Not an Oscar contender but still a very satisfactory film,with a great British supporting cast. I saw the play, back in WW2 and it is relatively faithful.My wife is a great Tyrone Power fan and this is her favourite. I seem to remember seeing it on tv way back but have not seen it recently. Is this yet another of those "lost films"?
An Improvement Over the Original
ldeangelis-7570818 February 2023
I can think of only a few movies where the remake is better than the original and this one, at least in my opinion, is one of them. Of course, it helps that the star is another favorite of mine; I adore Tyrone Power! I'd say his performance (as well as the film) is more down-to-earth, less ethereal, than its predecessor, though this one does have a touch of its own magic, as the realistic scenes from the contemporary time (in this movie, the 1950's), which include an atomic laboratory and nuclear experiments, are in black and white, while the fantasy like 18th century scenes are in vivid color. It gives you a sense of where life is really being lived.
While the premise is the same, (American Peter Standish is living in his ancestors' Georgian era house in London, talks of time travel, transposes with his lookalike/namesake 18thc ancestor, and while flirting with his distant cousin, Kate (Beatrice Campbell), whom the original Peter later marries, finds himself altering the past by falling for Kate's younger sister, Helen (Ann Blyth, who's more earthy and believable than Heather Angel), and must let head rule heart so as not to change history, Tyrone's performance is more controlled and on guard than Leslie's. Though he makes mistakes, he appears less careless and covers better, he doesn't deliberately insult (aside from a snarky remark here and there), and (a change for the better from the original) there are scenes of 18th century London life, as Peter tours the city with Kate and Helen's brother, Tom (Dennis Price), that make him disillusioned with the era and give background and reason for his opinions, that were absent in the previous film.
There's also his being a scientist and conducting a few experiments that become the reason for people turning against him, rather than just the strange things he says and does, which makes this version more realistic.
And this one has more potential for a "Happily Ever After".
Enough said! I recommend this one; you can even skip the first one. (Sorry, Leslie!)
While the premise is the same, (American Peter Standish is living in his ancestors' Georgian era house in London, talks of time travel, transposes with his lookalike/namesake 18thc ancestor, and while flirting with his distant cousin, Kate (Beatrice Campbell), whom the original Peter later marries, finds himself altering the past by falling for Kate's younger sister, Helen (Ann Blyth, who's more earthy and believable than Heather Angel), and must let head rule heart so as not to change history, Tyrone's performance is more controlled and on guard than Leslie's. Though he makes mistakes, he appears less careless and covers better, he doesn't deliberately insult (aside from a snarky remark here and there), and (a change for the better from the original) there are scenes of 18th century London life, as Peter tours the city with Kate and Helen's brother, Tom (Dennis Price), that make him disillusioned with the era and give background and reason for his opinions, that were absent in the previous film.
There's also his being a scientist and conducting a few experiments that become the reason for people turning against him, rather than just the strange things he says and does, which makes this version more realistic.
And this one has more potential for a "Happily Ever After".
Enough said! I recommend this one; you can even skip the first one. (Sorry, Leslie!)
Past always looks better than it really was
MegaSuperstar22 August 2021
Based on John L. Balderston play Berkeley square that was also loosely based on Henry James unfinished novel The sense of the past and a remake of the 1933 film of the same title starring Leslie Howard. The movie begins almost as a sci-fi film in a laboratory where scientifics Michael Rennie and Tyrone Power work doing atomic tests and follows as a mystery noir when they arrive to Power old XVIII mansion in Berkeley square. There, watching the surprising similarity between a Power XVIII century ancestor's portrait and he, he begans to explain to his friend a theory about returning to XVIII century, "the age of reason, of dignity and grace, of quietness and peace", as he says. As Rennie leaves the house a thunderstorm falls and time travel begins...
As the movie moves on we have a glimpse of what XVIII century really was aside of Power romanticized notions: an obscure time, full of social injustices, children work and misery as well as the illustrated era that produced men like Joshua Reynolds, dr. Johnson and James Boswell. But how did the bad things have changed if progress advances arrived sooner than they really did?
Although this "historical" part of the story is not enough developed in favor of a love story, the film presents an interesting reflection about past times looking better than they really were. Authenticity is captured by accurated sets of XVIII London (reconstructed in London Denham studios) show a dirty, poor city with enormous social and class gaps. Even the "smell" of the poor city is noticed in a scene. In a nice scene Tyrone Power character goes to the poorer part of the city and can not stand the "smell" of it, putting some perfume drops in a handkerchief to avoid it. We also see the making of the matches, that did not in fact appear until XIX century. There is a bright scene referring to Georgians' lack of hygiene when everybody gets scandalized when knowing Power takes a bath averyday!
Excellent costumes designed by Margart Furse and splendid house interiors that bring a past century in all its splendor, the house becoming a character in its own right.
Filmed in England, Tyrone Power did a research on XVIII century by reading James Boswell writings Life of Samuel Johnson (dr. Johnson's most accomplished biography) as well as his London Journal, learning British customs and habits of that era.
As a curious note, when searching Georgian furniture for the movie in London, British dealers stated that they were practically cleaned out of pre-regency stock furniture by American antique hunters, estimating that more Americans than British owned Georgian furniture, making difficult to obtain pieces for the movie at affordable price.
Two scientists (E. N. Tiratsoo and I. S. Hallows, of an enterprise related to nuclear energy development) advised the studio on how to built the atomical research station.
Actor Raymond Huntley, who plays Helens's fiancee played 1970's BBC series Upstairs & Downstairs family solicitor sir Geoffrey.
Although I would have changed the ending for a more suitable one. Since there is no mention to Helen in Standish diary, a brighter and more imaginative explanation could have been that in the end Peter took her with him when the storm comes. Since she is not afraid of the future but interested in it and willing to live it, and because at one point she is even able to watch it through Peter's eyes and gets more fascinated than afraid of (a much enhancing and positive scene in comparison to 1933 version), it would have suited perfectly, making a more accomplished ending.
A tv version was also filmed in 1949 starring Richard Greene and Grace Kelly.
Highly recommended.
Although this "historical" part of the story is not enough developed in favor of a love story, the film presents an interesting reflection about past times looking better than they really were. Authenticity is captured by accurated sets of XVIII London (reconstructed in London Denham studios) show a dirty, poor city with enormous social and class gaps. Even the "smell" of the poor city is noticed in a scene. In a nice scene Tyrone Power character goes to the poorer part of the city and can not stand the "smell" of it, putting some perfume drops in a handkerchief to avoid it. We also see the making of the matches, that did not in fact appear until XIX century. There is a bright scene referring to Georgians' lack of hygiene when everybody gets scandalized when knowing Power takes a bath averyday!
Excellent costumes designed by Margart Furse and splendid house interiors that bring a past century in all its splendor, the house becoming a character in its own right.
Filmed in England, Tyrone Power did a research on XVIII century by reading James Boswell writings Life of Samuel Johnson (dr. Johnson's most accomplished biography) as well as his London Journal, learning British customs and habits of that era.
As a curious note, when searching Georgian furniture for the movie in London, British dealers stated that they were practically cleaned out of pre-regency stock furniture by American antique hunters, estimating that more Americans than British owned Georgian furniture, making difficult to obtain pieces for the movie at affordable price.
Two scientists (E. N. Tiratsoo and I. S. Hallows, of an enterprise related to nuclear energy development) advised the studio on how to built the atomical research station.
Actor Raymond Huntley, who plays Helens's fiancee played 1970's BBC series Upstairs & Downstairs family solicitor sir Geoffrey.
Although I would have changed the ending for a more suitable one. Since there is no mention to Helen in Standish diary, a brighter and more imaginative explanation could have been that in the end Peter took her with him when the storm comes. Since she is not afraid of the future but interested in it and willing to live it, and because at one point she is even able to watch it through Peter's eyes and gets more fascinated than afraid of (a much enhancing and positive scene in comparison to 1933 version), it would have suited perfectly, making a more accomplished ending.
A tv version was also filmed in 1949 starring Richard Greene and Grace Kelly.
Highly recommended.
"Stop the World I Want to Get Off!"
richardchatten22 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The medium of the film has for over a hundred years increasingly made it possible us to almost tangibly immerse ourselves in the past in a way wholly without precedent in the history of the human race. This film was actually a remake of a previous film made relatively recently in 1933 (as is attested to by the presence of Irene Browne looking little changed reprising her role from the original as Lady Ann), but in a medium which had made such strides in technology as to now be able to avail itself of rich early 50's Techicolor to enhance its depiction of the 18th Century. Nearly 70 years, however, has now elapsed since this version was made, and any performance by Tyrone Power has for nearly sixty years carried the baggage of the knowledge that he himself died young (as did Leslie Howard who starred in the original).
Whereas Howard in the 1933 version views journeying back into the 18th Century as an adventure, Power is plainly motivated more by a desire to escape from the monochrome bleakness of the Atomic Age into what he fondly images to be a gayer, simpler era. With his permanent five o'clock shadow, the more obviously American Power looks far more out of place in a powdered wig than Howard ever does, (SPOILER COMING) and he is rapidly disillusioned by the squalid realities of the Age of Reason.
Whereas Howard in the 1933 version views journeying back into the 18th Century as an adventure, Power is plainly motivated more by a desire to escape from the monochrome bleakness of the Atomic Age into what he fondly images to be a gayer, simpler era. With his permanent five o'clock shadow, the more obviously American Power looks far more out of place in a powdered wig than Howard ever does, (SPOILER COMING) and he is rapidly disillusioned by the squalid realities of the Age of Reason.
Start Of An Era
writers_reign1 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This rarely rises above a ho hum take on the 'time traveller' genre and just off the top of my head I can think of several superior examples. It may be that my lifelong indifference/dislike of Ann Blyth plays a part; I find it inconceivable that anyone, let alone Tyrone Power could prefer Blyth over Beatrice Campbell but on the other hand, like the man said, to each his own. To my mind Power fails to convince as a man so obsessed with the past that he will literally move heaven and earth to become a part of it whilst the schtick of the love object from the past returning in a modern-day counterpart has been done to death (sorry), think Rhonda Fleming in A Yankee At King Arthur's court, released a scant two years before this one. Passable - just.
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